


Storms in her eyes

by Daughter_of_the_TARDIS



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Doctor (Doctor Who), BAMF River Song, Episode Fix-It: s04e08 Silence in the Library, F/F, Please Don't Hate Me, Post-Library River Song, Sort Of, Space Wives, The Oncoming Storm, im so sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-08-28 04:57:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16716974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daughter_of_the_TARDIS/pseuds/Daughter_of_the_TARDIS
Summary: “No, bring her back! Please - bring her back to me!” She tripped over her own feet, stumbling in her hurry to reach the spot where her wife had disappeared.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I know that all of the stuff that I've been writing for Space Wives has been wholesome fluff... and I had to change that, I'm sorry. On the bright side, for all the people who asked for 'the oncoming storm' prompt whenever I asked what you would like to see next... here you go.

It was ridiculous, River mused, just how many things could go wrong in twelve hours. Although at this point in her life, she really shouldn’t be surprised by that - really, it should have been her life’s motto. But even this was ridiculous. One moment she was in the middle of an adventure - fighting zombies with Mr. Darcy and the Bennet sisters, followed by tea at Longbourn - and the next, the computer world that had been her home for centuries was gone. It had faded around her, and the last thing that she had seen was Jane Bennet take the head off of a zombie with one clean stroke. Not that she minded being out of the Library all that much - there were only a certain number of books you could live through before even that became tiring. But as she struggled, trying to readjust to the feel of gravity on her body and the actual need to breathe air, she felt the familiar tingle of static run over her body that signaled a trans mat. The sensation felt both dulled and excruciating, though - her body was still adjusting to being there again, and all her nerve ending still weren’t working properly. She was as weak as a newborn.

At first, her eyes refused to open - or maybe they were open, and she just couldn’t see anything. Either way, she wasn’t sure how long it was until she was able to actually tell what was going on around her. But while she had been expecting to feel the Doctor’s arms wrapped around her as he fussed over her, and feel the TARDIS humming happily at the back of her mind. But there was nothing - just cold darkness and the feel of something hard underneath her.

“Where am I?” she asked, her voice barely working. It took her more than a moment to actually remember how to use her vocal chords again - centuries downloaded in a hard drive had wreaked havoc on her body. “What’s happened?” her vision was fuzzy - optical nerves still rebooting. She could barely make out anything more than the outline of a figure standing over her.

“We saved you from the Library.” the voice echoed around her, making her wince at how loud it was - it seemed to almost drill into her brain. “It cost us countless lives to do so.” 

She tensed. Killing lots of other creatures was one of those things that she remembered as being distinctly bad - one of those lessons from her spouse that had mostly settled into her brain over the centuries. “Then why did you save me?” She asked. She might not have had a corporeal body for centuries, but she was still very familiar with the concept of the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. That was what was happening now, as she looked up at the form above her.

They seemed to swell up in size as she looked on, her hearts sinking. Whatever they had taken her for, it couldn’t possibly be good. Her theory was proven a moment later when they answered her question. “To use as bait.”

“Bait for who?” She asked, sure that she already knew the answer to her question. Her vision was starting to stabilize a bit, enough that she could almost make out the creature that stood over her.

“The Doctor.”

Despite the seriousness of the moment, she couldn't help but snort out a laugh of derision. They had actually taken her out of the Library, saved her from her own personal hell, just to try and use her against the Doctor. “Good luck.” she spat the words out, a fierce protectiveness welling up in her. No matter how long it had been since she had seen her husband - the Chin or the Eyebrows, or any other version - she would protect them. “Creatures far better than you have tried - not one of them have succeeded.”

There was a moment of complete silence before anyone responded, but when they did, the answer sent chills through her. “We don’t need luck - we have you.” she didn’t have to say anything for them to know that they were right - whatever differences they had, she was still precious to the Doctor. He may have left her behind - _like a book on a shelf_ \- but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t fight tooth and nail to save her. These days, she knew the truth - _the stars loved her back._

With that said, her captors disappeared, leaving Professor River Song alone in a dimly lit cell, still trying to get her body to function properly. And as she let the darkness consume her, slipping into unconsciousness, River Song prayed out to whatever force in the Universe was listening. For the first time in all of her lives, River Song prayed that the Doctor was running in the opposite direction. 

Halfway across the universe, a being older than time itself stood guard over her Thief. As always, She kept an ear out - listening to everything throughout space, slipping through time streams with the ease of someone who had been doing it for millennia. Her Thief may have thought that she stole Her, but in reality it was the other way around. The TARDIS was stealing, had stolen, will steal her Thief - but she pulled her attention to one sector as something caught her attention. A cry for help - from a familiar mind. The water in the forest, the song of space and the river of time, the Child of the Pretty one, the Orangey one, and the TARDIS herself.

And as she sent her Thief a shrill cry of warning, the TARDIS took off.


	2. Chapter 2

“Where are we off to now?” Ryan asked, coming into the console room. They had spent the night before at a New Year’s Eve party in the year 6739, and as such had all slept in the next day - even the Doctor, who claimed that she never needed to sleep. But now they were ready to go back on an adventure, the Doctor practically bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waited for the others to come in so she could tell them where they were going. She had planned on taking them to see the planet Oz - where Frank L. Baum had originally come from, and gotten his ideas for Dorothy’s adventures. None of them had believed her the last time that she mentioned it, but she was going to prove them wrong.

Yas and Graham came in close behind him, sleepy looks on their faces as they clutched cups of coffee. The Doctor smiled slightly, shaking her head - humans, sleeping away a third of their lives and still tired. But she made her way around the console anyway, all set to start telling them about their trip for the day. But before she could tell them anything, the TARDIS shrieked in her mind, making the Doctor gasp in pain. She clutched her head in her hands, scrunching up her face at the feeling before it faded. It was gone as quickly as it came, but it left her with a feeling of foreboding - and just a hint of excitement. Something big was coming.

The lights that filled the console room pulsed red, just for a moment before returning to their normal golden glow. All four members of Team TARDIS looked at each other for a moment - wondering what was going on - and then all hell broke loose. They were thrown around the console, desperately searching for something to hang onto as they were thrown violently around.

“What’s goin’ on?” Yas called out, her voice echoing around the console room. She had managed to grab a hold of one of the columns around the console, using it to keep from being thrown around.

“Dunno.” the Doctor replied, her voice strained. “The TARDIS has taken over - she's upset about somethin’.” she ran her fingers over the console, trying to soothe the ship and having no effect whatsoever. The time ship wailed again, making the Doctor tense up. 

“It’s a ship!” Graham said incredulously, holding onto the railing with all of his might. “What has it got to be upset over?”

“You callin’ her an it, to start.” the Doctor retorted, finally getting a firm grip on the console. She levered herself up enough so that she could reach the controls, hitting a small blue button. The humans all sighed in relief when the shaking stabilized, and the Doctor made her way around the console once more, trying to figure out where they were. “Other than that, I’ve got no idea what’s workin’ her up like this.”

Whatever it is, we’re about to find out. The Doctor mused as the TARDIS landed with a thud. They were all thrown to the ground, and there were more than a few complaints as they all climbed to their feet.

“Where have we landed?”

The Doctor checked the displays, but wherever they were, the TARDIS was hiding the information from her. “I can’t tell where she brought us - you’re doin’ this on purpose, aren’t you?” she asked, directing the last part at the ceiling. Her attention was pulled back to her friends when Ryan spoke up.

“And we’re goin’ to go out there?” he asked, looking nervously at the doors.

Her face scrunched up as she gawked at her friend, wondering if he had actually just asked such a ridiculous question. “Of course we are!”

They stepped out of the TARDIS cautiously - at least the humans did. The Doctor strode out, coat flowing behind her as she walked. She took in the planet around them - bright, multicolored atmosphere; fields of spiked flowers; and the sparkling rings around the planet that were visible from the surface.

“Something’s happened here - somethin’ bad. Or is about to happen. Tenses are always a bit hard with time travel.” she said quietly. There was an unnatural sort of quiet in the air - one that even the Doctor was loathe to break. “Can you feel it too?” she asked, her voice low as she turned to look at her friends. “The air’s all funny.”

“Funny how?” Graham asked, and they all watched in amusement as the Doctor sniffed hard, spinning in a circle as she did. She stuck her tongue out as well, tasting the air around them.

“Taste’s funny - like chemicals.” she explained, taking another deep breath. “Smells even worse.”

Ryan copied her movements.“I don’t taste anythin’.” he said, sticking his tongue back into his mouth.

“Or smell anything.” Yas added, looking confused.

“Superior biology.” the Doctor explained. “But all that doesn’t explain why the TARDIS would bring us here in the first place - not to mention, I don’t like the feel of this place.” She shivered, drawing in her coat around her. There was something there, beneath the colorful surface of the planet.

“Well then let’s get out of here before something tries to eat us alive.” Graham said, already heading back towards the ship.

“She’s locked us out!” the Doctor said, pulling at the door handle. She looked up at the box, irritation plainly written on her face. “What have you done that for?” she asked, and the TARDIS whirred indignantly in response. The Doctor didn’t even get a chance to respond before the hair stood up on the back of her neck, static electricity filling the air.

“Which one of you is the Doctor?” a voice echoed all around them, moments before a lone figure was trans-matted in front of them. Graham looked up at the creature in awe - they were at least three feet taller than the humans were, built almost like dogs - if dogs walked on two feet and were covered in scales.

“That’s me - I’m the Doctor.” the woman in question said, taking a few steps forward so that she was in front of her friends. “What’s goin’ on? My ship pulled me here - what planet is this? I’ve never seen anything like it before.” Even as she asked her questions she pulled out her sonic, scanning everything around them in the hopes of finding out exactly where they were. “It's beautiful.”

“We are the Atizihier - we are in need of your assistance.” the being said. Its eyes tracked their movements, “Our planet is dying - the central computer is needed to fix it.”

“Of course I'll help you. Whatever you need - I'm very good at helping people.” The Doctor said, a wide smile on her face. It was nice, she thought to herself, to come to a planet and just help people. No need for running, no terrible villains to defeat. But their leader continued talking as though she hadn’t said a word.

“To ensure that you'll do what we've asked, we've taken someone of yours.” They said, the frills at the sides of their neck flaring out. It created an almost hypnotic effect, as well as making them look unbearably smug.

The Doctor tensed. “You will not touch my friends.” She warned them, quickly moving to heard the gang behind her, taking a few steps back towards the TARDIS. “Touch them, and I won't help you. Then where will you be?” she asked, trying to reason with the Atizihier.

“We don't need your friends. We already have our target.” Not another word was said before they were all trans-matted away. The three humans stumbled a bit when they re-materialized, but the Doctor just took a step forward, keeping her eyes trained on the tall being in front of her. Her friends took in the room around them - grey walls with towering machines pressed up against them, each manned by one or two of the dog- like creatures.

“Who?” she asked, more confused than anything else. “Who have you taken?” she tried to keep herself from worrying about all of her friends still on Earth - Sarah Jane, Martha and Mickey, Jack, Liz Shaw, all the rest of them. Living their lives with no idea that they could be targeted because of her. The familiar feeling of guilt welled up in her, but she pushed it aside to deal with later. Feeling guilty wouldn't help whichever of her friends they had taken.

“Doctor?” Yasmin's eyes were wary as she studied her friend. She hadn't done any cases like this in her time on the police force, but she had studied them enough at the academy to know what was happening. A hostage situation. “Who are they talkin’ about?”

But the Atizihier just smirked, and the Doctor’s feeling of dread grew. “The woman who married you. The song to the storm, the melody that flows through the universe. The deadly criminal who stole the hearts of the ancient Time Lord.”

She stumbled. “No, but you can't have.” The Doctor whispered, so quietly that almost none of her friends heard her. They were all too busy marveling at the idea that the Doctor had a wife - and they might get to meet her. A woman appeared in a flash of light, catching herself moments before she hit the floor. A gauzy white gown covered her body, like something out of a fairy tale. Her face was covered by a mass of blonde curls, but when she pushed them out of her face, the Doctor's breath hitched. She knew that face, far better than she knew her own. She knew the green-grey eyes, smirking lips, and the bump in the middle of her nose that was her favorite thing to kiss.

“River.” she breathed out the name with the sort of reverence that was normally saved for prayers and poems. Even as she helped her wife to her feet, she still couldn’t quite believe that the woman was actually there, in front of her.

“Doctor?” she looked up, taking in her spouse’s new form. “Hello, sweetie.” she purred, appreciation glinting in her eyes.

For once, the Doctor ignored her wife’s flirtations, more worried with what was happening around her. “River, what happened? How are you here?” This didn’t make any sense. River was too good to get caught by anyone. She had made a fool out of the best prison in the galaxy, breaking out whenever she felt the urge to do so. Nothing could hold her.

Of course, there was that tiny voice in the back of her mind that was screaming because _that was River in front of her her wife her WIFE._

But River just shook her head, curls flying. “I don't know.” she admitted. “I was in the Library and then I wasn't.”

The Doctor’s hearts stopped beating, constricting painfully in her chest. “The Library?” she whispered. “You’ve been to the Library?” Her mind was racing a million miles an hour at that information, trying to figure out exactly what that meant.

River raised an eyebrow. “Yes, and don’t think we won’t have words about that later.” She warned, crossing her arms over her chest. Despite everything going on, there was a tiny bit of her that warmed at the look on her wife's face - that certain annoyed fondness that usually meant everything was going to turn out fine. “For now we have to figure out what's happening.”

The Doctor nodded, taking a step forward. She could fawn over her wife later, once they were safely back on the TARDIS. Now was the time for action - for planning and running and keeping her amazement at her wife’s existence quiet.

“Your time is over.” the Atizihier said, and her hearts sank as she remembered exactly what was happening. But River took it all in stride, the same way she always did.

“Hush.” River said, turning to glare at her captors. “Mummy and Mummy are talking.” the look of sheer surprise on their faces made the Doctor laugh in delight despite herself - despite the fear that was racing through her system as she worried about what the Atizihier were planning.

“Don't worry, my love.” Her wife said, turning back to look at her. “We'll figure this out - raise some hell if we have to. And once we're done -” whatever flirtatious comment she had been about to make was cut off before she could finish by the trans-mat activating once more. River Song disappeared before their very eyes.

“River!” 

Graham winced at the sheer pain in his friend's voice as her wife was ripped away from her before they even had the chance to touch. The way her voice cracked in fear and agony made his heart break for her, but there was nothing he could do. Ryan and Yas tried to move to comfort her, but he held them back - he had already learned when he lost Grace that there were some things that had to be done alone.

“No, River!” At first she couldn't quite process what had happened. One moment her wife had been standing there, and they were talking and she was alive… and the next she was gone. “River, come back!” Her hearts were pounding in her chest, beating faster and faster with every second that past and River was still gone. She tripped over her own feet, stumbling in her hurry to reach the spot where her wife had disappeared. Her hands met empty air, and that was the end.

She collapsed - tripped and fell to her knees. She fell apart for one second, maybe two. Then she was fine again - like nothing had happened in the first place. She picked herself up, wiped the tears off of her face, and steadied herself. And then she turned around, and her friends realized that she wasn't fine. It was like her normally cheerful face had suddenly been carved out of stone. Her eyes were as hard as ice, whirling with rage as she stormed over to the aliens that had brought them here.

“You bring her back.” she snapped the words out, coat flaring out around her as she stormed over. “Bring her back to me right now.”

But the creature who had started the entire thing - the Atizihier who had come and gotten them from outside the TARDIS in the first place - just stared at her calmly, barely blinking. “No.”

“What?”

Yas tried to intercede, but the Doctor flung her arm back, holding her back. “Sorry.” she said, her face scrunching up as she plastered a smile onto her face - but her eyes were hard. “I must've heard wrong - I could have sworn you said no.”

I did.” the creature replied, lips pulling back just enough to show a hint of fangs that made the humans nervous. But the Doctor ignored the threat there, getting even closer into its space. “We will return her to you when you have done what we asked.”

Right.” And there it was - the single-minded determination that the Doctor got in these sorts of situations. The ones where something needed to be fixed, and she was the one to do it. The only difference this time was that the stakes were higher than usual. “So to get her back, what do I need to do?”

“Fix the central computer to restore our atmosphere - without it, we will surely die.”

The Doctor looked confused. “How does a computer fix your atmosphere?” she asked.

“That does not concern you.” she nodded slowly, taking in the information. It was a bit odd, bringing someone in to fix things and not telling them how it worked - but she had worked under worse conditions before.

“Come on, gang. We’ve got a computer to fix.” Ryan, Yas, and Graham all nodded, eager to help her in whatever ways they could - and if they picked her brain a bit for information about her wife, then that was alright as well, they reasoned. The Doctor rarely talked about things like this, except for dropping random facts or telling them stories about past adventures that were usually too insane to be believed.

The Doctor turned to leave, but barely made it two steps before she turned back around to face them again. “I’ll help you - but let me tell you this. I have fought entire armies - I defeated the Meanwhiles and Neverweres, stopped the return of the Could've Been King.” Her words came out faster and faster, practically spitting off of her tongue. “I've defeated Daleks and Cybermen and Stenza warriors - and do you know what?”. Yas and Ryan looked scared, but Graham just looked on with an even expression. “You took my wife from me. That's earned you a special place in hell.”

With that said, she spun - coat flaring out behind her dramatically - and stormed off through the corridors, her friends following behind her.

“I gave them a chance.” she said, before any of them could say a word. “I gave them a chance, and they threw it back in my face.” her hands were clenched into fists, white-knuckled with the force behind it, and there was an almost imperceptible stiffness in her movements.

“What're you gonna do?” Yasmin asked, all three of them hurrying to keep up with the Time Lord.

The Doctor smirked, making sure to keep her voice down as they made their way past the guards. Yas shivered when she saw the expression on her friend's face - for the first time, she really seemed to understand that she was an alien. “Whatever it takes to get her back safely.”. They had seen a hint of this side of the Doctor once before, when she was trying to talk down Charlie down in the under levels of Kerblam!. “I've already lost her twice - I'm not about to lose her again.”


	3. Chapter 3

The Atizihier cleared a path as Team TARDIS made their way through the halls, searching for the computer system. They all seemed to notice what their leader didn’t - the pure fury in every line of the Doctor’s body. Her friends hurried to keep up with her - they could never figure out how the Doctor could have such short legs, but still outpace them all. Her coat flapped out behind her, but Yas paid more attention to her face. It was far more open than the Doctor seemed to realize - the way she worried her lip betrayed her nerves, and her eyes darted around the room, like she was piecing together pieces of a puzzle that only she could see.

“That's why the TARDIS was upset - she knew they had River.” the Doctor explained, although it was obvious that she was talking to herself more than anyone else. “I thought she had just picked up their distress beacon, but that wasn’t it at all.”

Ryan looked impressed. “Your ship knows things like that?” he asked.

“Normally she wouldn't.” the Doctor admitted, slowing down slightly when she noticed her friends struggling to keep up. “But she and River have a special connection.” 

“What does that mean?” Yas asked, trying to ferret out all the answers that she could. Her curiosity was what had brought her to police work in the first place, but it also came in handy a lot when traveling with the Doctor. But the Doctor didn’t hear her question - or else she was ignoring it as she searched for the computer system that she was supposed to be fixing.

Finally, the Doctor stopped, a pleased grin stretching across her face as she looked into one room. They all knew what she was going to say before she even had a chance to say the words. “Found it!”

The others piled into the room after her, looking up at the computer in awe. It was massive - filling most of the room - and like nothing any of them had ever seen before. Even the Doctor looked impressed with the monstrosity of a machine.

“Right!” the Doctor said, shedding her coat and carefully laying it overtop of a chair. “Lets get to work.”

8888

They had been in there for only a few minutes when Graham saw his opportunity. He had been looking for the chance to ask the Doctor a question that had been on his mind ever since they arrived on this planet and they learned exactly what the stakes on this adventure were.

“You alright, doc?” Graham asked gently, sliding down the wall to sit next to her. Yas and Ryan were off to the side, trying to figure out what they could do to help, and were distracted enough that he felt safe in asking the alien woman his question. He had waited until he wouldn’t be interrupting what she was doing, until she had sounded down against the wall, staring into space.

It took a moment for her to say anything, but once she did her voice was so quiet that he almost couldn’t make out her words anyway. Starijg straight ahead, she told him, “She said they took her from the Library.”

“So?” he asked. He still wasn’t sure what that meant, but even he could hear the capital letter in Library.

“So,” she swallowed, trying to clear the lump in her throat before she said anything else. “she… she died in the Library. No matter what danger she threw herself into in the past, I always knew she would be alright, because I had already seen her die. But now… now she could die. I might have just gotten her back, and she could die.”

Graham froze - this was a bit more in-depth than any other conversation he had had with their time-traveling friend. But after he thought about it for a moment, he realized he already knew the answer. It was the same sort of thing that he had thought about after Grace died.

“I think…” he began, picking each word carefully. “That every extra second is a second that you didn't have before. Instead of worrying about it, cherish it.”

That was when he noticed Ryan and Yas coming to join them, and he changed the subject slightly. “Is she gonna be alright, your wife? They said they were holdin’ her - is she gonna be okay?”

He pretended not to see the relieved look on the Doctor’s face at the change in subject. “River will be fine.” the Doctor reassured - although whether she was reassuring herself or her friends, nobody knew. “I would be more worried about what she’s gonna do to them.” Catching the skepticism on their faces, she smiled reassuringly. “She used Stormcage as her own bed n’ breakfast for years - escaping this place won’t be any problem.”

Her words didn’t have their intended effect. “Stormcage?” Graham asked, looking worried. “That prison that that bloke Krasko was in?”

The Doctor winced - she had nearly forgotten about that, but that was an issue for another time. “Not important right now.” she dismissed. “But she’ll get out just fine.”

“So then how do we help her?” Yas asked. There was pure determination on her face, and Graham and Ryan looked the same. 

The Doctor smiled, the first real bit of hope on her face since her wife had disappeared in front of her. “We fix the computers.” she said, pushing her hair back out of her face.

8888

River stood up, back in the cell that she had been stuck in for the past month. This was the first time that she had seen outside her cell since she had first been put into it, straight out of the Library. Until today, all that she had seen were the plexisteel walls around her, and a flap that opened three times a day to leave food for her. Other than that she had had no contact with the outside universe at all. 

If they expected that - solitary confinement - to be enough to break her, then they had another thing coming. She had simply bided her time, building up her strength, making sure her body was working properly. It had barely taken her two weeks before she was back to the same abilities that she had before that trip - before her death. After that, it was simply waiting for the right moment to strike, and planning her next move. If she struck too soon, there was a chance of them regrouping and going after the Doctor again. Too late, and there was no chance of her being able to help her sweetie.

But that one glance outside had been more than enough of an opportunity. Not only had she seen who was holding her and learned why they were keeping her, but she had seen her wife. That was new - having a wife instead of a husband - but not the most pressing issue on the table. That title - the most pressing issue - went to the look on the Doctor's face when she appeared out of nowhere. Hope, and then fury - there and gone in the blink of an eye. River sighed - having a face that was this open was going to cause the Doctor nothing but heartache in the end. But she also knew that she had to get out of here and to her wife before the other woman did something that she would ultimately regret.

“Right then.” River said, placing her hands on her hips as she looked around her cell. She hadn't escaped her cell yet, that was true. But, she reminded herself as a small smirk slid onto her face, maybe she just hadn't had the proper incentive. “Time to get to work.” she surveyed the cell, her mind moving in a million different directions as she plotted.

As soon as she got out of this room, these creatures would have hell to pay.


	4. Chapter 4

“Well that’s not good.”

The sound of the Doctor’s voice had her friends standing up just a little bit straighter as they turned to look at the Time Lord - or rather, her legs. She had been buried waist-deep inside the machine for the last hour, scanning every inch of the thing. Her friends were stuck outside the machine, all of them wondering exactly what it was that was going on, and plotting ways to help save their friend’s wife.

“What’s the matter?” Graham asked, studying the machine. He had absolutely no idea what it was, and knew he wouldn't be able to tell what was wrong with it anyways, but he kept examining it. Maybe if he was lucky, he would see something that could help.

“Not sure yet - but this definitely won’t fix an atmosphere.” her voice was slightly distorted as it echoed out of the machine, but was still more than clear enough for them to understand. “Wouldn’t come even close to it, really.”

“Then what does it do?”

She awkwardly maneuvered her way out of the machine, wiping off her hands on her pants before she answered. Ryan had the urge to let her know that there was a massive grease smear on her cheek, but stopped himself at the last moment. It was all sorts of funny to watch his friend walk around with absolutely no idea that there was anything on her face.

“Dunno.” the Doctor replied, looking down at the opening that she had come out of as she stuck her sonic back into her pocket. “But nothing with an anti-matter power source can be good.”

“What about the Tsuranga?” Yas asked, looking confused. “That was fueled by anti-matter, and it was a medical ship.” she pointed out. 

The Doctor beamed at her friend. “Good point. Ten points to Yas.” she said, giving the boys a look that said _‘catch up!’_. “But this is much bigger than the one on the Tsuranga - its been streamlined through a tachyon prism, _and_ connected to a bi-axial plasma splitter.”

Ryan was the one to ask what they were all thinking. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing good.” the Doctor admitted, but she brightened again when she started talking about the system. “It’s a beautiful set up, really - the way that they aligned the resonance crystals to bounce off of the optronic reaction drive is just gorgeous.”

But Yas felt her heart sink in her chest as she realized something important - something that had absolutely nothing to do with the stream of technobabble that the Doctor had just given. “That’s why they took your wife, isn’t it?” she asked, her voice soft. “Just in case you found out what they were really doing.”

Ryan and Graham both looked horrified by the thought, but judging by the look on her face, the Doctor had long since figured that out. “Probably.” she said, her voice quiet. She didn't look at them, pulling her sonic back out instead to give herself something to fiddle with.

It was Ryan who broke the tension. “I still want to know more about this wife.” he said, looking up at the woman. He was slumped against the wall, legs bent in front of him as he sat there. Yas was sitting next to him, and she elbowed him, shooting him a look for his question.

“Oh, come on.” He protested, sitting up straight. “I can't be the only one wonderin’ about this mystery woman.”

Surprisingly, the Doctor laughed. “You wouldn't be the first.” She admitted, a small grin lighting up her face. “Go ahead, ask away.”

Ryan shrugged, taking that as all the approval he needed, despite the looks being sent his way by Yaz and Graham. “So she's seriously your wife.”

“Yup.” the Doctor nodded, blonde hair flying. “Professor River Song.” there was a small smile on her face - the same sort that his Nan had always had whenever she talked about Graham. “She’s an archeologist.” there was no hiding her disgust as she said her wife’s occupation, although it was betrayed by the fondness in her eyes.

“What’s wrong with archeologists?” Graham asked, confused by the Doctor’s apparent hatred of something. Normally the woman was willing to give everything a chance, sometimes more often than it actually deserved.

“I’m a time traveller, Graham.” the Doctor explained, rolling her eyes. “I point and laugh at archeologists. They take things that they don’t know about and make guesses about what it might have been used for. River was one of the best, though - although she did cheat, come to think of it.” she added, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Yas tilted her head, a bit of hair falling in her face as she looked at the Time Lord. “How do you cheat at archaeology?”

“Time travel.” she explained, looking a bit embarrassed. “Younger me was very easy to encourage into doing whatever she wanted.”

Graham smiled, looking amused by her explanation. “How long have you been married?” he asked, settling against the wall across from Ryan and Yas.

The Doctor looked up at the ceiling, eyebrows furrowing as she counted silently, mouthing each number as she went. “Twelve, I think.” she finally answered, looking pleased that she came up with a number. “But timelines are strange when you’re married to a time-traveller, so I could be wrong.”

“Twelve years?” Yas was impressed. “That’s a really long time.”

But the Doctor shook her head. “Oh, no - twelve hundred.” she corrected, ignoring the stunned looks on her friends’ faces. “But like I said, I’m not sure if that’s right - time travel makes things tricky.”

“Ok, my turn.” Ryan announced, a wide grin spreading across his face. “How did you meet?” He asked. “Whatever it is, it's got to be better than James Blake.” He teased Graham.

“The first time I met my wife, she died.” the room was deadly quiet as her friends listened to what she said. “She was on an expedition to the Library, and died savin’ four thousand and twenty-two people.”

That dampened the mood slightly and Yas hesitated before she said anything. “You said that she would be fine - River, that is.”

She will be.” the Doctor said - her voice was confident, reassuring. But there was an undertone to it that said she didn’t believe her own words, and her next words came as no surprise to her friends. “She’s got to be.” she whispered, and they all pretended that they didn’t hear the desperation in her voice.

8888

Getting out of her cell was the easy part - all it took was simply knocking out the guard that came in with her next meal and stealing their equipment. If there were any cameras monitoring the room, that was the moment when she would have found out - but nothing happened. No alarms started ringing, no shouts or pounding of feet as guards raced down the hallway. There was nothing. A small smile stole over her face even as she felt a little bit… disappointed. She had been breaking in and out of places for her entire life. This one was almost disappointingly easy, in the end. Even Stormcage had occasionally been challenging, and she didn’t even bother thinking about the hundreds of other prisons she had escaped from over the centuries. Even some dungeons were harder to get out of.

Right before she left the cell behind, something caught her attention. Her eyes ran over the prone form of the guard on the floor, contemplating the different possibilities. It would make things easier on her if she just got rid of them now - that way there was no chance of them waking up and sounding the alarm. But before she had the chance to do anything, an image popped into her head - the soft, amazed smile on the Doctor’s face when they had first seen each other. She wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that smile - even if it meant leaving the creatures who had held her captive in one piece.

So she walked away and left him alone, rolling her eyes at herself as she did - she was getting soft.

The first corridor she went through was empty, as was the one after it. She was starting to get a bit nervous, though - escaping from jail was rarely this easy. The few times that it was just meant that the danger was simply further ahead. The one after had three guards stationed there, and it only took a moment to take care of them all. They all collapsed, and she smiled.

“Still got it.” she murmured under her breath.

8888

River smiled, slow and dangerous, as she snuck up behind another guard. A quick nerve pinch had him dropping to the ground, just like the others. A relieved sigh slipped out of her mouth when she finally found the last piece of what she needed - a weapon. She had stolen clothes from one guard, replacing the gauzy, white dress that she had been wearing for the past month. The clothes barely fit her - the species that was holding her was at least three feet taller than humans with legs that resembled a dogs - but ripping and tying the fabric worked well enough so that it didn’t fall off. She took a comm unit off of another one, making sure that it was set only to receive the incoming messages and not transmit what she was doing. Hopefully that would be enough to help her find the Doctor.

The sound of feet pounding down a nearby corridor had her tensing slightly in anticipation. “She’s gone this way - you go that way, and we’ll box her in.” a voice directed, and she winced as it seemed to drill straight into her brain. She looked around quickly, smirking as she spotted a ventilation shaft cover up high on the wall. She moved over to it, working quickly and quietly to pry it open and duck inside.

She followed the directions the TARDIS sent her until she heard voices echoing up through the vents. Four of them, all with distinctive accents and a grasp of the English language that marked them as off-worlders. After hearing them she sped up slightly, crawling through the vents at a quicker pace. The joints of the ventilation shaft creaked and groaned, and she winced slightly - if they broke, she was going to be in serious trouble.

“Aren’t you going to work on it though?” a voice asked, much closer than the last time she had heard them. She slowed down slightly, working hard to make sure that she didn’t make a sound. Whoever he was, he was northern, judging by the accent. “What if you’re wrong, and she does need help?”

“Nah.” the Doctor snorted, and while River was pleased that her wife had so much faith in her, there was a part of her that was the slightest bit disappointed that the Doctor wasn’t running to her rescue. Until the Doctor kept talking. “If she needed me, I’d be there in a heartsbeat. But instead of working on the computer, I’ve been puttin’ together this machine. Told you - I’m good at buildin’ things.”

“What’s the machine do?” a different voice asked - a woman’s, she noted, rolling her eyes. Despite everything that might have changed, some things stayed the same, and the Doctor’s desire to have a pretty young thing at his side.

The Time Lord’s next words had a wide, disbelieving grin unfurling on her wife’s face as she listened. Even after all this time, her Doctor still managed to surprise her. Centuries of non-linear marriage, meeting each other in the wrong order and constantly worried about spoilers; twenty-four years of perfect bliss and love and safety in the knowledge that the next day they would still know each other just as much - if not more - than they had the day before. And then the data core, and an untold amount of time spent watching out for him

“It tracks Time Lords - or, to be specific, it tracks anyone with Gallifreyan DNA.” there was a slight pause, and then the Doctor spoke again. “I know you’re there, River.”

8888

Her friends all looked confused, but the Doctor just smirked, keeping her eyes trained on the ceiling. She watched the movements of the ventilation system above her, catching the slight movements that betrayed someone was crawling through the vents. She sprang into action as the ceiling gave way, hurrying to catch the woman who fell out of the ceiling. 

“Hello, sweetie.” the woman flirted, curls falling in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around her wife’s neck. 

“Nice of you to drop in.” the Doctor replied, and her friends groaned at the terrible joke.

I knew you would catch me” River said, a wide grin on her face as she pressed her lips against her wife’s cheek. Green eyes met hazel ones, and she cupped her wife’s cheek in her hand.

The Doctor grimaced slightly. “Its a bit harder this time around.” she admitted. “Legs are shorter.”. She carefully put her wife down on the floor.

“I don't mind, my love.” River reassured. The two women stared at each other for a moment, foreheads pressed together as they both plotted and reassured each other that they were alright.

“So how exactly are we gettin’ out of here, if you don't mind me askin’?” Graham said, his voice breaking the Doctor and River from their trance-like state.

Matching mischievous grins broke out on their faces, and the three companions looked at each other worriedly. They had no idea what the women were planning, but it was nothing good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an idea for a fic from tonight's episode that should be up sometime tomorrow - sorry in advance because it's gonna be at least as angst-filled as this one is. I promise soon we'll get back to our regularly scheduled fluff.


	5. Chapter 5

Graham, Ryan, and Yas watched in awe as the Doctor and her wife made quick work of the computer systems, completely dismantling them. Even covered in grime from her crawl through the vents, wearing ripped clothes six sizes too big, and barefoot, River Song looked every inch a queen. Her wild curls were pinned on top of her head, held back with hair ties and bobby pins that the Doctor had pulled out of her coat. When River asked, she had told her that she kept them in case her hair got in her face. 

None of her friends commented on the fact that she had never once pulled her hair back before, and as such, wouldn’t need any of the massive amount of hair ties and bobby pins that she had been carrying around.

“What are you doing to the computer?” Graham asked, his curiosity getting the best of him. He watched in fascination as the Doctor held her sonic between her teeth while she stripped wires, only for River to take it from her to help her take a computer panel apart. They tossed parts and pieces between them like it was second nature to do so.

“Have you figured out what it does yet?” Yas added, arms folded over her chest as she watched the two women working.

The Doctor didn’t even bother to look up from what she was working on as she answered both their questions. “We’re dismantling it, and it’s a very large 

“A what?” Ryan asked, confused. There were times when he understood the Doctor’s technobabble perfectly, and then there were times that he caught maybe one word out of twenty. This was one of those times.

River poked her head up from what she was doing, an exhilarated smile on her face. “Its a bomb - a big one.” she explained. “And I thought we were going to blow it up.” she finished, turning to the Doctor. The excitement in her eyes at the thought of setting off something so massive was contagious, and the Doctor’s friends found themselves smiling along with her.

“What?” the Doctor asked, her head popping out of the computer to frown at her wife, face scrunching up as she shook her head. “No, we’re dismantling it.”

“Are you sure?” River asked, brows furrowing. She pasted an innocent expression on her face as she looked at her wife. “I could have sworn you said we were going to blow it up.”

“River…” the Doctor warned, although she sounded fondly exasperated at her wife's antics. The other woman huffed. 

“Fine.” she rolled her eyes. “Dismantling it. If we must.”

Yaz had watched the interaction closely, her mind spinning as she tried to take in the relationship between the two women in front of them. The Doctor was kind and sweet and liked trouble, and while her wife obviously liked trouble as much as the Time Lord did, she didn’t seem to use the ‘kindness approach’. “Sorry, but who exactly are you?” she asked, turning all of the skills in interrogation - which admittedly weren’t many - on the Doctor’s wife.

“I told you - she’s my wife.” the Doctor said, most of her attention still focused on the pieces of the computer that she was disassembling.

“Yeah, but - no offense, Doctor.” Yas said hesitantly, moving a few steps away from the wall she had been leaning on. “But she’s all mysterious and bad-arse and you’re…”

“Totally awesome and also bad-arse?” the Doctor suggested, looking at her friend hopefully.

Yas took in her friend - sitting cross-legged on the floor, sleeves rolled up, hair a mess and grease smudged on her cheek, a frankly adorable grin on her face - and shook her head, finishing off her thought. “Not.” 

River smirked as the Doctor spluttered. “Why thank you, dear.” she said, favoring Yasmin with a smile that made the young woman blush. “But I suppose you’re right - we’re more of an opposites attract sort of couple.”

The Doctor pouted slightly, stopping what she was working on as she looked up at her wife. “I’m a bad-arse too, you know.” she muttered under her breath - although not quietly enough to keep everyone from hearing her. She tucked a bit of hair back behind her ear, taking a moment away from what she was working on to sneak a glance at her wife.

But River shook her head. “I’d say its a rather good arse, actually.” she murmured, a small smile crossing her face as she looked her wife over. The Doctor flushed, looking distinctly pleased with herself as her wife sent her a heated look.

“So how exactly are we gettin’ out of here?” Graham asked, interrupting the two women before they could start flirting again. “‘Cause I don’t know about you, but I’d like to get out of here before they realize that their bargaining chip has disappeared.”

“Graham is right - we need a plan.” the Doctor said, casting a worried glance at her wife as she set her screwdriver down. There were so many different outcomes to how this could turn out, each of them with their own set of pros and cons, but each one splintered into its own timeline as well. If she didn't plan this perfectly, there was every chance that she could lose her wife right after getting her back.

“We could use the vents.” Ryan suggested, but River shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest, shivering slightly in the cold air of the room. The Doctor noticed and grabbed her coat off of the floor, holding it out to River. Her wife accepted it gratefully, slipping the pale blue jacket over her shoulders.

She turned to look at Ryan. “The vents don’t actually lead out of here - they’re connected to each other and the oxygen factory, but that’s it.”

“Oxygen factory?” Yas asked, and River nodded. 

“A forest.” she explained, and all three humans smiled, but it was Ryan who vocalized what they were all thinking.

“Wicked.”

River smiled at the pure awe in the human’s voice - it was times like this that made her remember why the Doctor traveled with humans in the first place. The universe always seemed so much better when seen fresh from someone else’s eyes. “How did you all get down here in the first place?” she asked, turning her attention back to the topic at hand.

“A trans-mat system.” the Doctor replied absently, but she lit up as soon as she realized what River was thinking. She climbed to her feet, moving to be closer to her wife. “If we can figure out how to hack the system…”

“We can get back to the TARDIS.” River finished, a matching grin on her face. There was a moment when she thought that they were going to kiss, but it quickly passed

8888

It only took River an hour or so to hack into the trans mat system and piggyback on the signal they were using, while the Doctor built the trans mat device that they would be using. Once that was done, the Doctor called her friends back over - Yas and Graham had been standing guard at the door while Ryan helped the Doctor as best he could.

“Everybody grab on.” River said, and the humans all did as they were told. She gave them apologetic half-smiles as the Doctor came up, wrapping her free hand around hers. “This isn’t going to be pleasant.” she warned, activating the device. With a whir and a burst of static, they were gone.

They reappeared on the surface of the planet in another flash of static, where both Graham and Yas quickly turned to the side and vomited. River winced, watching them with sympathy in her gaze. “I did warn you it wasn’t pleasant.” she said, wincing again when that only seemed to make them throw up again. When her eyes landed on the blue box in front of them, though, she lit up. “Look at you.” she whispered, making her way around the box, her fingers trailing over the exterior as she did so. “You’ve redecorated.”

Ryan watched her, a small smile on his face as he watched his friend’s wife. “She’s doin’ the same thing you did when we found the TARDIS.”

The Doctor shushed him quickly, but it was too late. River had heard him. She whipped her head around, eyes narrowing as she glared at her wife. “You lost the TARDIS?” 

“No?” The Doctor squeaked, rocking back on her heels and smiling nervously at her wife. River hummed in the back of her throat, a suspicious sound that made the Doctor even more nervous. The last thing she needed was for her wife to ask questions about what exactly had happened to the TARDIS recently.

“Look, why don't we go inside?” The Doctor suggested, hoping to stop the rest of that conversation from happening. River watched in amusement as her wife hurried to put the key into the lock on the TARDIS, just to keep her from finding out about whatever it was her ridiculous spouse had done this time. She fumbled with it for a moment, before finally getting the key in the lock and opening the door.

Any amusement vanished from River's face the moment she saw the inside of the TARDIS. “Oh look at you, you’re gorgeous!” River exclaimed, walking inside. The Doctor and her friends followed, all of them watching River and the way she interacted with the ship.

The TARDIS let out a pleased hum, and River smiled as she answered. “No, I mean it.” She reassured, spinning slowly to take in the full room. “You're absolutely stunning.”

“Are they… talking to each other?” Yas asked, moving closer to the Doctor. She had never really seen anyone else react to the TARDIS the way River was - not even the Doctor had reacted so strongly.

“Yeah - don’t worry about it.” The Doctor replied, not taking her eyes off of her wife and her ship. “They do that. Its a bit annoyin’ actually - they like to gang up on me.”

“You love it.” River called back, not even bothering to turn around.

“You know I do.” her wife replied, making her way up to the console and beginning her mad dash around the console. “Right then.” the Doctor said happily, eyes darting up from the controls to take in her wife every few seconds, still unable to believe that she was there. Her friends watched in awe as the two time travellers danced around the TARDIS console, moving in perfect synchronization with each other. That seemed to be their default setting - moving in perfect synch. 

“There we are.” River sighed, flipping the last switch into place. “Safe in the Time Vortex.” 

The Doctor looked around at the group around her, a wide smile on her face. “Got my wife, got my friends, got my TARDIS - what else could I need?” she asked.

River smirked. “I can think of a few things.” She teased.

It took the Doctor a few moments to understand what her wife was implying, but once she did, a deep blush quickly spread over her face, along with a smile.

“Right.” She said, grabbing her wife by the hand. “Why don’t you all go… look around the TARDIS?” she suggested, and River snorted a laugh. “We're just goin’ to… get somethin’ to eat.” She said quickly, already halfway out of the console room and going down a hallway that the humans knew didn't lead towards the kitchen. They could hear the pair talking and laughing, and then one of them said something that had the other racing back towards the console room. The Doctor peeked her head around the corner, looking at her friends with a slightly nervous expression. “Did any of you actually believe that excuse?” she asked, flushing red when they all shook their heads. “Right then. I'm just gonna…” she awkwardly flailed, making Graham smile slightly at the sheer awkwardness of the alien woman. 

Her friends laughed as she ran off again, settling in around the TARDIS as their friend chased after her wife.


End file.
